


Running Toward When

by Gintrinsic



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Gen, Legend POV, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Not Canon Compliant, The Lost Woods, Time is SO DONE, the hero complex comes with a huge helping of guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25575163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gintrinsic/pseuds/Gintrinsic
Summary: The Hero of Time was lost, but not like the rest of them. There was an agelessness to tragedy, Legend realized.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 124





	Running Toward When

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ort](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ort/gifts).



> Inspired by fox-moblin/ort's wonderful [art](https://fox-moblin.tumblr.com/post/619059140265951232/ah-shit-what-have-i-created-do-not-repost) and Jojo's incredible [Linked Universe](https://https://linkeduniverse.tumblr.com/post/181757349079/to-see-all-my-linkeduniverse-works-see-creator) content. I've always been a sucker for OoT and boy oh boy is there a lot of potential angst to unpack.

“Another one,” Legend muttered lowly, scowling at the pairs of glowing orange eyes that watched them from the shadow of a large sycamore tree. Skull kids, Warriors had called them, children who had perished in the forest. They were prone to mischief, and sometimes they blew splintered darts at the group of heroes. At least they were easy to scatter; when Legend raised his bow, the eyes vanished with an echoing giggle.

“I’m really beginning to hate that sound,” Four grumbled, and many of the others quietly agreed. 

By Legend’s count, they had been roaming this forest for nearly five days. Nobody claimed to recognize it, not exactly. Legend could recall a similar area from his own adventures, a series of paths that seemed to reflect back on each other no matter which direction he chose. But this? This felt… heavier. As if the looming trees were slowly pressing in and the wide grins from the depths of the foliage were growing sharper.

He knew he wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Ever since the portal landed them here, Twilight had been twitching at the slightest of noises and scrutinizing the higher tree branches as if expecting to be attacked from above. What’s more, sometimes Legend swore he could see the guy sniffing the air.

Wild, in turn, appeared torn between watching his mentor and occasionally overturning rocks and large leaves, much to everyone’s general confusion. At first, Legend wondered if he were looking for mushrooms or other edible pickings; but despite the vibrant undergrowth, they had yet to come across anything they could feasibly utilize.

That wasn’t to say there wasn’t anything to be _seen_ , however.

There were wisps of movement all around them, lingering breezes that danced between the trees like gentle exhalations, occasional swirls of fairies among the boughs and motes of light. And deeper in the underbrush, where shadows coalesced like the saliva of some great beast, the faint trickle of a song could be heard, beckoning.

“A siren call,” Wind had murmured the first time they heard it, looking wary.

Legend couldn’t help but wonder if they were already trapped.

A wolfos suddenly howled nearby, and its piercing call was taken up by others. The group of heroes stopped, tense as they reached for weapons. Warriors directed them to form a circle, but they were hindered by the trees. The cacophony of howls seemed to swell as more and more wolfos joined the call, echoing through the woods like the ringing of gongs, louder and louder until Legend swore he could feel the reverberations in his bones.

“Are they surrounding us?” Four asked over the din, somewhere to Legend’s right.

“I don’t see them,” Sky answered grimly. The Master Sword gleamed in his hand, washing their loose formation in soft blue light.

A minute passed, and still the wolfos cried. Legend grit his teeth against the pain in his skull. He wasn’t sure what the beasts were waiting for, but some part of him began to anticipate the wrongness of a fight; the gnashing of teeth, the crunching of bodies strained too far, the distorted gurgles of dying comrades. He tried to shake it from his mind, to focus on the here and now, but everything was too _much,_ too loud and clashing and oppressive and malicious and—

As suddenly as it had started, the howling just… stopped.

And the Lost Woods remained like a tower around them, alive and aware, not entirely impassive.

“Fuck this place,” Wind whispered heatedly, after several moments had passed without attack.

Legend couldn’t help but agree. He took several deep breaths, trying not to sound as shaky as he felt. “What now?”

Hyrule was the first to break formation. He approached a young birch and ran his fingers across its moss-spotted trunk, then glanced toward the sky with a frown. “We’ve passed through here before.”

“So we’re going in circles,” Sky concluded, sounding both frustrated and resigned.

Hyrule grimaced. “It’s not just that.”

Twilight looked over sharply. “Then what is it?”

Hyrule paused, as if doubting himself, before finally sighing. “The sun isn’t in the same place.”

“No shit,” Legend scoffed. “It does that.”

Hyrule shook his head. “No, I mean—it’s late morning, right? Approximately?”

Warriors nodded. “We packed up camp as soon as it was light. It’s only been a few hours since then.”

“So… that should be east,” Hyrule told them grimly, pointing toward where the light was brightest as it filtered through the trees. “But it’s west.”

“Are you sure?” Four asked, just as Legend said, “That can’t be right.”

They all bickered for a moment, with Hyrule calmly pointing out all the ways a person could track the sun’s progression in a healthy forest, to which Legend snapped, “ _Healthy?_ ” as he motioned to the ominous monstrosity around them. It wasn’t a productive argument.

Sky closed his eyes and tilted his face toward the dense canopy. “I think… I think Hyrule’s right,” he murmured, though he didn’t offer any reasons why.

“Fuck,” Legend stated plainly. Then, when that didn’t make him feel any better, he said it again with more enthusiasm.

Another giggle echoed through the trees in response, and Twilight swung around with a growl that sounded more animal than man.

Wild stepped forward pointedly and signed, “I could try to climb another tree.”

“No!” Legend snapped, his rejection echoed by several of the others. The first and only other time Wild had climbed a tree to gain a vantage point, he had vanished into the canopy. Minutes passed, and despite their calls, he didn’t return. Hyrule had eventually climbed up after him, with Twilight close behind to keep Hyrule in sight, but Wild… wasn’t there.

It had taken hours to find him again, and when they did Wild was casually climbing down from an entirely different tree, looking surprised to see all of them so flustered. His hands were steady as he relayed to them that he had only been gone for a couple minutes. His gestures were less confident when he admitted that he hadn’t been able to see anything but treetops in any direction.

It was not turning out to be a nice adventure.

As if on cue, Legend’s stomach growled.

Warriors glanced his way, but for once he didn’t seem inclined to tease. “If we come across another organic monster,” he started slowly, “we should probably preserve the carcass.”

“If that’s even possible,” Four pointed out.

Sky looked significantly uncomfortable. “Do you think it’ll come to that?”

Warriors hesitated before answering. “I don’t know. But I’d rather be prepared if it does. Even strictly rationing what’s left in Wild’s slate, we don’t have long.”

A while ago—Two days? Three?—they had stumbled across a bokoblin from Wind’s time. The creature had been emaciated and confused; its snarls were halfhearted, and as it swiped at them with shriveled little fingers, it kept sneaking twitching, nervous glances over his shoulders. Slaying the creature had felt like a mercy killing.

Now Legend wondered if they had been foolish to leave the remains to rot. He shouldered his pack, eager to keep moving—knowing, with skin-crawling certainty, that standing still was dangerous in this place.

“You’re lost,” a voice coldly observed.

The Heroes of Courage leapt back, falling into defensive stances with raised weapons.

A Hylian man stood in the murky shadows of a large, hollowed tree trunk. A few fairies swirled lackadaisically around him, highlighting his features in fleeting, shimmering pink. His drab clothes were the plainest thing about him; an old albeit wicked looking scar bisected his right eye, and red and blue markings decorated much of his face like careless brushstrokes. A sheathed longsword hung at his back.

“The hell did you come from?” Wind asked, and Legend appreciated the sentiment.

“A grove,” the man answered cryptically. He glanced each of them over, studying them the same way they studied him in return. His stoic gaze paused briefly on the Master Sword in Sky’s hand, and Legend wasn’t sure how to classify the strange look that flashed across his face.

Apparently finished with his appraisal, the man closed his eye and let out a slow breath. “What have they done now?”

 _Who?_ Legend thought.

Warriors stepped forward, sword held at the ready as he placed himself between the stranger and the rest of the group. “Who are you?”

The man glanced toward one of the hollow logs. Legend recognized the look for what it was—a desire to flee. Instead, he casually turned his back and began making his way through the forest. “Call me fairy boy.”

“They do seem to like you,” Hyrule remarked diplomatically, following at a cautious distance.

Legend made eye contact with Warriors and raised a brow. Warriors rolled his eyes, then shrugged, before nodding after them.

They kept their weapons out. The man didn’t seem to care.

If there were markers or a path that guided the man, Legend couldn’t identify them. Even Hyrule glanced around with a sort of curious dissatisfaction, searching. They wound around trees that looked like all the rest, careful not to stumble over roots or low-lying branches.

“How did you guys wind up here?” the man asked after several moments, continuing to walk.

“It’s—” Wind paused, glancing at the others for reassurance. “We’re on a quest, I guess.”

“Hm. Must be some quest.”

A twig snapped nearby, and Twilight narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Where are all the animals?”

“They know not to get close to this place.”

Legend gave him a flat look that went completely unnoticed.

It was Sky, however, who caught up to the man and asked the most obvious question: “We’ve been wandering in here for days. How do you know where you’re going?”

“Who says I do?” The man’s ears flattened, and although he tried for some levity—at least, Legend _hoped_ that was levity—there was no denying that Sky had made him anxious.

Legend glanced to Sky, to the Master Sword he boldly carried, then back to the man. The portal had never been wrong before, he realized. But why did that fill Legend with such dread? “Your name is Link, isn’t it?”

The man noticeably tensed, but his steps never faltered. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does,” Wild signed emphatically, but the hand signs went unappreciated.

As Sky fell back, Warriors quickened his pace to walk alongside the man—Link. “You’re the Hero of Courage in this Hyrule?” he asked to confirm.

“I was.”

“Then you still are!” Warriors insisted, gesturing with his free hand.

Link shook his head but didn’t offer anything else. He led them through a wide arch of drooping branches, past a small pool of water with a brightness that belied its depth, then around a young copse teeming with deku babas. His fairy companions twinkled in and out of his presence, as unconcerned by the changes in scenery as he seemed to be. Faint musical notes could still be heard in the distance.

“You could join us,” Twilight offered quietly, and it was only then that Legend realized how Twilight was lingering at the back of the group, gaze trained on Link with a cautious intensity. He looked like he was searching for something in those unassuming shoulders.

Link didn’t answer. In fact, he sped up ever so slightly, as if he could outpace the idea. As if he could outpace all of them. 

“Link?” Twilight pressed.

“No,” Link finally answered, voice cold and flat. “I made my sacrifices. I made them, and made them. I’m done.”

“Done?” Hyrule repeated. “But…”

Legend couldn’t help it, he laughed. It was short-lived and mirthless. “Maybe he’s right,” he muttered disdainfully, feeling something cold in the pit of his stomach. “There doesn’t seem to be much courage left.”

Sky glowered in his direction. “That’s not fair,” he murmured, to which Legend just shrugged.

He wasn’t about to admit how much this Link unnerved him, how familiar this glimpse into abandonment was.

As they approached the hollow center of an enormous, felled tree, Four whispered something unintelligible and ran a hand through his hair with a grimace. “What happened to you?” he finally asked.

“I met with a terrible fate,” Link answered, sounding tired and bitter and regretful.

Legend didn’t know what to make of that. Neither did anyone else, apparently.

“We’re stronger together,” Warriors insisted after an awkward pause. “Hylia has brought us here for a purpose, and I think—”

“I don’t really care.”

Warriors scoffed loudly. “Unbelievable. You could at least hear us out! I swear, you’re as stubborn as…” He slowed as he trailed off, blinking several times at Link’s back. It was only when Hyrule patted him on the arm that he snapped out of his unexplained daze.

As the group quieted, Wild shook his head, uncharacteristically somber. “Pain,” he signed to no one in particular. It was a sign they were all familiar with.

Overhead, orange eyes tracked their progress.

“You know,” Wind started, trying for affability even if it sounded forced, “I don’t know why, but you remind me of someone.”

Link didn’t reply. He moved like he belonged to these woods, like a man who was neither prey nor predator; his breathing seemed to reflect the swaying of leaves.

Wind refused to be deterred by the lack of response. “I sailed the ocean in my world, if you can believe it. Hyrule Castle—well, it was underwater,” he admitted quietly, stepping around a bramble. “But inside, there was this statue. Everything was gray and frozen, but the statue still seemed so, I don’t know, _intimidating_.”

Legend wondered where this was going, and the others seemed just as curious. For all that they had been traveling together for months now, they didn’t really _know_ each other. He supposed that was for the best. Some things were meant to stay secret. Still…

“Underwater?” Sky asked, baffled.

Wind nodded, craning his neck in an effort to see Link’s face. “I think the statue was a memorial to the Hero one-hundred years before me. He… left a pretty big legacy. It was said that the Hero of Time could use—”

Link stopped walking abruptly and spun around faster than Legend could have anticipated. For one heart-stopping second, he pointed behind them and above their heads. “Best to avoid these woods in the future,” he advised quietly, his words barely audible above the blood rushing in Legend’s ears. “All those who become lost in this place turn into Stalfos.”

Legend turned with a start, tightening his grip on his bow when he spotted the broken remains of a large skeleton tangled in overhanging vines. The eye sockets were dark and hungry pits, soulless in a forest teeming with stolen life.

“Stalfos,” Twilight whispered, looking shocked with realization.

Legend turned back around to question their guide, only to see that Link was already sprinting into the dreary depths of hollow tree trunk.

“Wait!” Twilight called, running after him, and Legend was quick to follow.

Their footsteps echoed strangely on the dead wood. Darkness was quick to rush in, and Link was like an unattainable silhouette at the end of the tunnel. They ran and ran, and for one terrifying moment Legend wondered if this was a trap, if they’d be running through this old tree until they, too, were hollowed by time, if the forest was eager to feed its roots with the brittleness of their bones. But all at once, haloed by sunlight, Legend found himself stepping onto a mossy overlook.

Pale gold light glittered like confetti at the entrance to the Lost Woods, then dissipated.

It wasn’t long before the others were standing beside him, brimming with questions and vestiges of adrenaline. Twilight looked like he might be sick, for some reason.

“Did you see where he went?” Four asked, eyes reflecting slivers of the bright blue sky above.

Legend shook his head, trying to ignore the disorientating way his emotions kept bouncing between indignation and sorrow. “There were lights. I don’t know.”

“At least we seem to be out,” Wind said, sounding relieved. “There’s a small village down below. We can ask for help there.”

Behind them, through the hollow tree trunk and nestled within the dreary confines of the Lost Woods, several young voices laughed.


End file.
